ritter

Legislative economists project that Colorado will face an additional $40 million shortfall in its General Fund budget for fiscal year 2009-10 due to a continued drop in revenues since their September forecast.

Reducing the high school dropout rate in Colorado has long been a goal of the Bell Policy Center, and we're gratified to see the attention this issue has recently been getting both in our state and nationally.

Four new reports shed light on the dropout problem, and they point the way toward potential approaches to addressing it. And a fifth report quantifies the economic benefits of cutting the dropout rate in half, both for the new graduates and for society.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his budget for fiscal year 2010-11 to members of the Joint Budget Committee today.

He is requesting a $7.2 billion General Fund budget for fiscal year 2010-2011, which begins on July 1, 2010. This budget closes a $1 billion shortfall between projected General Fund revenues and expenditures and comes on the heels of a $2 billion shortfall in fiscal year 2009-10.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented a plan to the Joint Budget Committee today that closes an additional $271 million shortfall in the state budget for fiscal year 2009-10.

When combined with the $320 million in cuts he proposed in August, it eliminates a gap projected to be $589.4 million below September's revenue forecast.

Ritter used a mix of one-time cuts, transfers and federal funds to balance the budget.

Contact: Joe Watt
Wade Buchanan
303-297-0456

Statement on Gov. Bill Ritter's latest budget reduction plan

Wade Buchanan, President, Bell Policy Center

October 28, 2009

Gov. Bill Ritter today announced a new round of budget cuts and adjustments to keep the state budget in balance in the face of continuing weak revenues due to the ongoing national recession.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his plan to balance the fiscal year 2009-10 budget today before a packed house at a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee. The overall plan totals $320 million and includes $261.2 million in cuts to the General Fund, $39.8 million in transfers from cash funds and $19 million in other revenues and reserve changes.

Emailed to supporters June 3, 2009

Success from the session
SB 228 most significant
reform since Ref C

By Wade Buchanan
President
buchanan@thebell.org

Today marks a major milestone in the journey toward greater fiscal sanity in Colorado. This morning, Gov. Bill Ritter signed SB 228, one of the most important pieces of legislation of his term in office.

New report examines Colorado's fiscal prospects after Referendum C; Two recent studies examine fiscal, economic effects of immigration; Message from summit: It's everyone's business to cut state's dropout rate; Individual health mandates could work; Experts find holes in Federal Reserve report on payday lending; Guaranteed retirement accounts offer rescue plan for failing system; Two Bell staffers move on to new opportunities

The Bell reviewed existing research on labor management partnerships and studied results from partnerships used by public and private sector organizations. Labor management partnerships are formal agreements that allow employees and managers to negotiate over issues of mutual concern. The issue brief finds that overall, partnerships have been positive. The brief also identifies the optimum conditions that will help such partnerships succeed in Colorado.

The Bell Policy Center released a new issue brief today, ???Labor management partnerships: Research from the public and private sectors,??? to help inform the debate on Gov. Bill Ritter???s recent order allowing executive branch workers to form such partnerships.